Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

The Road to Democracy is a five-volume work that aims to redress the lack of historical material on the events that led to democracy in South Africa over a period of four decades. In Volume 1, which covers the years between 1960 and 1970, a dedicated and experienced team of researchers unravels and analyses events that would eventually lead to a negotiated settlement, focusing specifically on: ??? The Sharpeville and Langa massacres as a turning point in the struggle;??? The banning of liberation movements and the imprisonment of struggle activists;??? The measures taken by the apartheid state to suppress resistance;??? The underground activities of, among others, the ANC and PAC;??? The decision to resort to armed resistance; ??? Life in exile for political activists; and??? The activities of mainly white activists in above-ground organizations.Volume 1 provides new insight into how anti-apartheid movements operated in the 1960s -- a decade generally known as ???the golden age of apartheid??? - drawing on previously unexploited documentary sources, such as trial records and state archives, as well as the archives of the liberation movements. Most importantly, it includes the voices and experiences of liberation veterans recorded during hundreds of interviews. As a complete recounting of the events that led to liberation and a democratic society, The Road to Democracy is a document of immense historical importance about an extraordinary process of change.